Bev Salter - Sumner-Redcliffs RSA

Audio, Radio New Zealand

President of Sumner-Redcliffs RSA, which was destroyed in the Christchurch earthquake, talks about their plans for Anzac Day.

Cathedral Square's first dawn service since 2010

Audio, Radio New Zealand

Earlier this morning Christchurch's Cathedral Square saw its first dawn service since the earthquake in 2011. The city's Mayor Phil Mauger was there.

Anzac Dawn Service returns to Cathedral Square, first time post quakes

Audio, Radio New Zealand

The Anzac Day Dawn service returns to Christchurch's Cathedral Square tomorrow, the first time since the 2011 earthquake. The service will take place near the newly-restored Citizens' War Memorial at 5.30am, where traditional veterans will parade up Worcestor Boulevard towards the Square. Christchurch Memorial RSA president, Dennis Mardle, spoke to Corin Dann.  

“In the soil of a friendly country”: an archaeologist’s visit to Gallipoli

Articles, Christchurch uncovered

This blog may lean more heavily on the personal than the archaeological. Every year, thousands of Kiwis and Aussies commemorate ANZAC Day. We take this time to reflect on the losses of war, and the terrible costs it has had … Continue reading →

The ebb and flow of purpose : a history of the public’s interaction with t…

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

This research seeks to understand if memorials like the CWM operate as effective prompts for collective memory as distance from the event it commemorates grows. The Citizens’ War Memorial (CWM) was built to honour the men and women who died serving New Zealand in World War One. While the original purpose of the memorial was clear, the way the public have interacted with the memorial throughout time has seen its function vary. This dissertation addresses how the public has viewed and interacted with the CWM from the planning phase up to the present year of 2025. By systematically tracking the key events through time, it argues that key events such as WWII, the Anti-Vietnam War protest period, the Anzac Revival and Canterbury 2011 earthquake have seen the public use and view the memorial differently to its intended purpose. In the current day, the memorial is once again used as a place to remember and honour the dead from WWI showing that purpose of a memorial can ebb and flow as generations change.